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Writing Haiku
By Alistair Scott

Haiku are modest little poems. You are not going to make your fortune with them.
But, don't dismiss them as something school kids write. They have other
benefits. Composing haiku is excellent practice in close observation, clear
thinking, and tight writing-- all essential skills for a writer in any genre.

Traditionally, haiku are three-line poems, the first and last lines containing
five syllables, and the middle line with seven. There is no need for rhyme or
punctuation, and some of the more minimalist haijin (haiku writers) even
consider a title superfluous. Furthermore, this traditional 5-7-5 form is no
longer considered sacrosanct. So, what could be easier than writing haiku?

Beware! Despite the minimal “rules,” or maybe because of them, creating
genuinely good haiku is difficult. And-- a health warning-- getting them exactly
right can be addictive.

The principal difficulty is capturing the haiku “spirit.” Do not tinker with
ideas or ideals. Haiku should arise from genuine feeling and should be written
without being aphoristic, didactic or judgmental. A Japanese master of haiku,
Buson, wrote:

the cold is piercing -
in the bedroom, I have stepped
on my dead wife’s comb

There is no specific mention of sorrow or loss here. It is a traditional haiku
which takes a moment, an incident or a scene, observes it with clarity and sets
it down with the minimum of fuss. Two images are placed side by side, without
comment, giving the reader the opportunity to compare, reflect, and share an
emotional experience.

Haiku are often presented as instants in time, frequently using the present
tense to give a sense of immediacy, of the reader actually being there.

a single poppy
blowing in a field of wheat -
your face in the crowd

Is this an statement of love? Another emotion? Or something else altogether?
Individualism? That is for the reader to decide. Haiku is one of the purest
expressions of the well-known writers’ aphorism, “Show, don’t tell.”

Because haiku are so short, you may feel that the ideal wording has to come
immediately. But this is rarely the case. As in all other genres, haiku can
benefit from rewriting.

For example, in your first draft you may have conjunctions such as “because.”
Cut conjunctions in order to leave open the possibility of different
interpretations. Similarly, adjectives and adverbs should be ruthlessly sliced
out. In short, avoid giving descriptions or making connections that readers can
easily imagine for themselves.

Another problem in composing haiku is that, if you are working closely with a
syllable count-- the 5-7-5 form-- it is all too easy to allow a line to end with
short “make-weight” words such as “a,” “the,” “to” or “of.” Take time and
thought in your re-writing to get rid of such endings. Your haiku will be
stronger for it.

On the other hand, take care not to over-edit. You should strive to preserve the
original perception, the “haiku moment,” however much the poem is re-worked.

thunderheads billow
a worm dries stiff on the soil
raindrops puff the dust

Haiku are modest poems, finding inspiration in everyday (though not always
“nice”) scenes. When writing them, use ordinary words and straightforward
syntax. (Once again, this advice is good practice in any form of writing.) Avoid
stylistic and consciously “poetic” features, such as word inversions. Brevity is
essential. As Robert Browning said, “Less is more.”

But being brief is not everything and brevity alone does not make a haiku.

Traditionally, haiku have included a “season” word (known as kigo) or a
seasonal activity (kidai). This gives the impression that they are nature
poems. But everything changes and the haiku form is no exception:

foreign tribes cower
behind coils of razor wire -
eagles wheel above

Above all, what really makes a good haiku is the “cutting” (kireji),
which is equivalent to the caesura of English poetry. This “cut” often
comes at the end of the first or second line and may be marked by a dash.
Aficionados claim that the “cut” haiku is always superior to one that reads like
a sentence. There is a pleasant and Zen-like sense of “balance despite
imbalance” when two lines are pitted against one, as in this haiku by the
acknowledged master, Basho:

now the swinging bridge
is quieted with creepers -
like our tendrilled life

Finally, one of the most enduring principles established by Basho is that of
lightness (karumi). This does not mean that haiku should be flippant.
Instead, the haiku poet aspires to present all aspects of life, both happy and
sad, in a thoughtful, engaging yet detached manner. Furthermore, haiku should
not be demanding intellectually. They should produce instant meaning and impact.

So, why not become a haijin? But remember the “health warning.” Writing
these short poems can be addictive ...

AcornA small biannual journal dedicated to publishing the best of contemporary
English-language haiku. In particular, it showcases the individual poem and the
ability of haiku to reveal the extraordinary moments found in everyday life.
http://home.earthlink.net/~missias/Acorn.html

Alistair Scott is a freelance writer/editor and
Editor-in-Chief at StoryPlus (www.storyplus.com),
an on-line children's publishing company based in Lausanne, Switzerland. He has
had articles, essays, fiction and poetry published and broadcast world-wide, and
ten of his children's books are to be published in June 2005 by the China
Children's Publishing House. He writes the monthly Markets Column for the
European Edition of Worldwide Freelance Writer newsletter and is available for
editorial work and manuscript critiquing. You can contact him at
writer1@bluewin.ch.